I linked to my class blog where I posted this originally, but it can’t be accessed without the username and password. So with the professor’s permission, I’m cross-posting it here.

As covered in an earlier post [note: this is referencing a post by another student], South Korea’s President-elect, Lee Myung-bak, is poised to take several measures in his move to push for expansion and growth in South Korea’s economy. He is going about this by encouraging domestic companies to invest more stateside, pushing for tax cuts and streamlining the government, and privatizing banks and other businesses while also seeking a public works project in the form of a canal system throughout his country.

Luckily for President-elect Myung-bak, the economic conditions in South Korea are ripe for expansion. The Bank of Korea reports that the South Korean economy expanded in the 4th quarter of last year, notably in exports and manufacturing. Economists point to this to suggest that South Korea could maintain its economy and be more than able to fare a global slowdown should the United States enter a recession, which is looking more likely by the day.

Along with this optimistic news on economic growth, South Korean stocks have gained in recent sessions which points to strength in the investment sector of the economy. This success in South Korea is also being shared by its neighbors in Asia, meaning in my opinion that geographically close trading partners are also in a good position, thus will be able to take South Korea’s exports even in a global slowdown.

These positive indicators of the South Korean economy, along with the economic plans of the incoming President, bode well for the economic future of South Korea. I feel that these strengths, along with the perennial strength of Korean microprocessors and other specialized goods, make the country well-prepared to thrive and experience economic growth even in the face of a worldwide crunch. I believe that with Mr. Myung-buk’s pro-growth proposals such as tax cuts and privatization combined with the current strength of the economy, at the very least the country will be able to weather an economic storm with better resilience than other countries with less economic success.